Henderson Poised To Make History

Jason Logan

Jason Logan

REGINA – The only thing they like more than golf in Regina is the local football team, and oh yes, you better believe the galleries have a distinctive green hue about them here at Wascana Country Club. And tomorrow, early in the morning as it turns out, they’ll be hoping for anything but a rough ride for Canadian superstar Brooke Henderson, who has the CP Women’s Open lead on her own following a not-so-smooth, two-under-par Saturday 70.

In cool weather to begin what would prove to be a difficult scoring day, Henderson, dressed in black pants and a navy sweater to match navy and black shoes that featured a touch of … magenta? … played steadily in the final trio with four pars out of the gate. Meanwhile, her playing partners, overnight leader Amy Yang of South Korea and American Angel Yin — yep, Yin and Yang — struggled. Both gave three shots up to par over that same stretch, and just like that, Henderson, doing nothing of interest, held the lead alone. By the 12th hole Henderson was still even par on the day, with a bogey on five and a birdie on six the lone geometry on her scorecard. She failed to take advantage of the par-5 ninth and the short par-4 10th and then left an eight-footer for birdie two feet short on the par-3 11th. With three-time champion, Lydia Ko, and last year’s winner and World No. 1, Sung Hyun Park, making moves ahead of her, Park in fact taking the lead alone at one point, it appeared Henderson’s shoddy short game was going to cost her. But with three par 5s in her final seven holes remaining there were opportunities for her to take advantage of her biggest strength.

Henderson’s power is fun to watch. She generates it through a golf swing that works like a syringe — the slower she pulls her driver back the faster the ball comes off its face. Her impact makes a distinct thwack whereas most others on the LPGA Tour make more of a tap, her playing companion on this day, and tomorrow too, Yin, one of the few exceptions. With her sweater shed and a magenta golf shirt revealed to match that hint on her shoes, it was two good thwacks that led to a birdie for Henderson on the par-5 13th and two more on the par-5 15th that yielded the same result. In between she bombed her ball down the par-4 14th and made a mid-range birdie putt after going to school on Yin’s miss. She followed that three-birdie stretch with a sensational par save on 16 but an ugly bogey on the par-5 17th. She smashed two balls on that hole too but then hit a poor bunker shot and shockingly three-putted when she rammed her birdie attempt past the hole. A par on 18 — the result of a rather nervous-looking birdie attempt — resulted in a tally of 70 strokes, and despite some leaderboard jockeying throughout the day, she ended the round ahead by a rouge (that’s one point in CFL parlance for the uninitiated). It will be Yin and Japan’s Nasa Hataoka nearest in her rear-view mirror when play begins tomorrow. Those three will go off together at 9:01 a.m. local time as a threatening forecast has necessitated an earlier-than-usual start. Park is a further shot in arrears while Ko, who levelled off and signed for a four-under-par 68 (one off the low round of the day by Minjee Lee), will begin the final round four strokes back of the Canadian.

Some struggles and scoring details aside, let’s not lose the plot here: Henderson, the 20-year-old six-time LPGA Tour winner from Smiths Falls, Ont., is alone in the lead through 54 holes of her national open and therefore in prime position to become the first Canadian to win this championship, or its precursors, since Jocelyne Bourassa in 1973. If successful, she would also be the first Canadian to win either an LPGA or PGA tour event on home soil since Mike Weir claimed the old Air Canada Championship in 1999. A nation’s eyes will be upon her and she knows it.

“It would be pretty sweet. I’m definitely a long way from that. There’s like a million players within five shots so I definitely have to play my best and go low,” she said afterwards.

Hyperbole aside — there are 16 players within five strokes of Henderson’s 14-under-par score — her sentiment is correct. It will be no easy ride tomorrow and she will certainly need to shore some things up, namely her chipping should she start missing greens. How the golf course plays will be a factor too. Today it was tough, whereas it was easy picking for much of Thursday and Friday. Henderson believes she’s at her best when she plays aggressively and if this contest does revert back to a birdie-fest she’s game for the challenge.

“I play smart but aggressive and when I’m kind of chasing birdies I feel like that’s kind of where I’m playing my best,” she said, adding that she anticipates feeding off the crowds tomorrow. “It’s just really exciting and I feel like when I have a lot of confidence in my game that’s when I tend to make a lot of birdies and I tend to play really well.”

This CP Women’s Open was historic the minute the first golf ball was struck Thursday morning. It is the first to be played in the province of Saskatchewan — the first men’s or women’s open in fact — and the locals are here in droves to witness it. Henderson could make it doubly so with a victory tomorrow and she’s put herself in the driver’s seat.

“Coming into this week, if you would have told me that (she would have the 54-hole lead), I would have been very excited,” Henderson said. “I’m definitely in good position heading into the final round, which is exciting, and I feel like these crowds this week have been totally amazing and I’ve been playing well for them, so I’m happy about that. Hopefully I can just go out and get closer to that six-under round, not close to this two-under round that I had today … Hopefully go out tomorrow, make a lot of birdies, and just kind of see what happens.”

Rider Nation, and the rest of Canada, are on the edge of their seats.

NOTES:

– Hamilton, Ont.’s Alena Sharp carded a one-under-par 70 Saturday and sits tied for 29th at five under par. She is 101st on the LPGA Tour money list with this event and next week’s in Portland remaining before the top 100 players secure their status for next season. Sharp will move up the ledger tomorrow evening with a few players in the high 90s missing the cut here at Wascana.

– Quebec City’s A.C. Tanguay is also T29 after her own third-round score of 70. Her money list position is much more precarious — 136th — but a good round tomorrow would do wonders for her cause.

Jason Logan

LOGAN'S ALLEY

Jason Logan is the editor of SCOREGolf Magazine and the co-host of SCOREGolf TV.

Bradford Burkholder
August 25, 2018 at 11:29 pm

At 9:20 pm mst in Albuquerque, New Mexico. From a lonely Canadian missing home. Thank you for a Beautifully written sports story that captured my attention from beginning to end. I will definitely follow the finally round and will be cheering for all three of the CDN young ladies. .